Sports shorts
Hockey Cal opens with win
The California University of Pa. hockey team opened the American Collegiate Hockey Association Division III national championship tournament with a victory Wednesday, with the host team defeating Arizona State, 7-4.
Freshman William Depoli scored a hat trick for the Vulcans while senior captain Jamison Roth and freshman Adam Finick adding two goals apiece to round out the scoring. California led by two goals in the first period and never looked back.
Matthew Feige turned aside 22 shots for California while Arizona State’s Kyle Kuzek made 20 saves.
The Vulcans play the winner of Wednesday’s first round game between No. 2 seed Colorado and 15th-seeded Pitt-Johnstown today at 3 p.m.
Soccer
World Cup draw
NEW YORK (AP) – The United States will open against Cuba and also face Costa Rica and Canada in the first round of the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
The two-time champions of the biennial tournament will play Cuba and Canada in Seattle’s Qwest Field, on July 7 and July 9, and then finish its Group B first-round schedule against Costa Rica at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass. on July 12.
Defending champion Mexico was placed in Group C and will play Guatemala, Jamaica and South Africa – an invited guest team.
The other invited guest, Colombia, will face Honduras, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago in Group A. Panama will face Colombia on July 6 in Miami to open the tournament, which will run through the July 21 semifinals and July 24 championship game in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Besides Seattle, Foxboro, Miami and East Rutherford, games also will be played in the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, the Coliseum in Los Angeles and Houston’s Reliant Stadium.
Basketball
Cheeks fired by Blazers
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – The Portland Trail Blazers fired coach Maurice Cheeks on Wednesday, a team source told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
It was rumored that Cheeks was on the way out for several months, although when he wasn’t fired by the All-Star break many thought he would finish the season.
But the team kept sliding, losing seven out of its last nine game. A 103-93 loss to the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday night proved to be Cheeks’ last game.
The Blazers (22-33) are in 12th place in the Western Conference, six games back of the Los Angeles Lakers for the eighth and final playoff spot. They went 41-41 last season, missing the playoffs for the first time in 22 years.
Cheeks, who played in the NBA for 15 seasons, was hired by the Blazers in 2001 to replace Mike Dunleavy.
Bryant settles civil suit
DENVER (AP) – Ending a sordid case involving one of the NBA’s brightest young stars, Kobe Bryant and the 20-year-old woman who accused him of sexual assault nearly two years ago have agreed to settle her civil lawsuit against him, attorneys said Wednesday.
Terms were not released. A statement faxed by Bryant’s attorneys said only that the matter had been resolved “to the satisfaction of both parties.”
Tennis
Serena Williams wins
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Australian Open champion Serena Williams overcame a rough first set and tricky wind Wednesday to beat Russia’s Elena Bovina 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 and reach the Dubai Women’s Open quarterfinals.
Williams was making her first tour appearance since a stomach illness forced her to withdraw before the Paris Indoor quarterfinals last month.
“I don’t know what I was doing there tonight,” she said. “I think I was trying to kill myself out there. It was really windy and I hadn’t played in the wind. All my shots were going out of here.”
Top-ranked Lindsay Davenport had an easier time, defeating qualifier Jie Zheng of China 6-2, 7-5. Davenport will next meet Conchita Martinez, who ousted seventh-seeded Nathalie Dechy of France 6-1, 6-2.
French Open champ advanced Anastasia Myskina when Marion Bartoli of France quit while trailing 4-2 because of tendinitis in her left knee. Myskina faces eighth-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, who downed Li Na of China 6-3, 7-6 (8).
Williams, seeded second, next plays Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia, who beat Elena Likhovtseva of Russia 7-5, 6-4. The other quarterfinal pits wild card Sania Mirza of India against Jelena Jankovic of Serbia-Montenegro – both won Tuesday.